SproutVideo Acceptable Content Guidelines

SproutVideo hosts a wide range of business, education, and creative videos. These guidelines explain the kinds of content we do not allow, so you know what to expect before you upload.

How These Guidelines Apply

These guidelines cover everything you host or stream with SproutVideo, regardless of privacy setting. That includes:

• Videos and live streams, whether public, private, password-protected, login-protected, listed, or unlisted
• Titles, descriptions, tags, subtitles, chapters, and attachments
• Poster frames and thumbnails
• Video Websites, playlists, calls to action, and email capture forms
• Links and destinations promoted through any of the above
• Anything uploaded or shared from your account

The Owner is responsible for content uploaded by anyone with access to your account, including team members and API integrations.

These guidelines work alongside our Terms of Service, which already cover account rules, illegal use of the Service, copyright and DMCA notices, unsolicited email, malicious code, and our right to remove content or close accounts. Where something is covered there, we don't repeat it here. If the two ever conflict, the Terms of Service apply.

The examples below are not a complete list. We may act on content that clearly violates the spirit of these guidelines, even if it isn't listed here.

Child Safety

We have zero tolerance for content that sexualizes, exploits, or endangers children. Any account found hosting child sexual abuse material (CSAM) is terminated immediately, and we report it to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) and law enforcement as required by law.

Don't upload, stream, or link to content that:

• Depicts or suggests sexual activity, nudity, or sexualized poses involving anyone under 18, including drawn, animated, or AI-generated imagery
• Grooms, solicits, or tries to arrange contact with minors, or helps others do so
• Shows minors in dangerous activities, abuse, or situations likely to cause physical or emotional harm
• Exposes a minor's personal information, such as their full name, their school or location, in a way that puts them at risk
• Targets minors with sexual themes, extreme violence, or other mature material disguised as children's content

Videos featuring children in ordinary settings, such as school events, family moments, sports, or educational lessons, are welcome. If you host this kind of content, we recommend restricting access to the intended audience.

Violent, Graphic, and Harmful Content

Content that glorifies violence, shocks for its own sake, or puts people at real risk of harm is not allowed.

Graphic Violence

• Real footage of killings, torture, serious injury, or mutilation shared to shock, celebrate, or degrade
• Real animal cruelty or abuse
• Gratuitous gore, including severe medical footage presented without an educational purpose

Violent Extremism and Threats

• Content that promotes, recruits for, or praises terrorist or violent extremist organizations
• Footage filmed by perpetrators during violent attacks, shared to glorify the attack or spread its message
• Threats or calls for violence against a person, group, or place

Hate and Harassment

• Content that attacks or dehumanizes people based on race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, disability, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, or veteran status
• Targeted harassment, bullying, or intimidation of an individual
• Sharing someone's private information (doxxing) to expose them to harassment

Dangerous Activities and Self-Harm

• Instructions for making weapons, explosives, or other items intended to seriously hurt people
• Challenges, pranks, or stunts likely to cause serious injury, especially those that encourage viewers to copy them
• Content that promotes or gives instructions for suicide, self-harm, or eating disorders
• Promotion or sale of illegal drugs, or instructions for producing them

Content that discusses these topics to inform, support recovery, or prevent harm is generally allowed. See Context Exceptions.

Medical Misinformation

Don't share health claims that contradict established medical consensus in ways that could lead someone to harm themselves or others. We look to guidance from public health authorities such as the World Health Organization and national health agencies when assessing these claims.

Examples of content that are not allowed:

• Promoting unproven or dangerous treatments as cures for serious illnesses, such as cancer or HIV
• Telling viewers to stop or avoid treatment prescribed by a doctor in favor of an unproven alternative
• False claims about how vaccines or approved medicines work, their safety, or their ingredients, presented as fact
• Recommending substances that are harmful to ingest, such as bleach or turpentine, as a remedy
• Denying that a well-documented disease exists or how it spreads, in a way that discourages people from seeking care
• Selling or advertising products with false claims that they prevent, treat, or cure a disease

This does not cover personal experiences, opinions about health policy, or genuine debate about emerging research, as long as it isn't presented as established fact. Fitness, nutrition, and wellness content is welcome.

Nudity and Sexual Content

If your videos include nudity or sexual activity, they must meet all of the requirements below.

Requirements

• Everyone depicted is at least 18 years old and has consented to both the recording and its distribution.
• You keep records verifying the age and identity of everyone depicted, as required by the laws that apply to you, and can provide them if we ask.
• The content is legal where you are and where you distribute it.

Never Allowed

• Content shared without the consent of the people in it, including intimate images, hidden-camera recordings, or what's commonly called "revenge porn"
• Sexual content depicting anyone who appears unable to consent, such as someone unconscious or incapacitated
• Real (non-simulated) sexual violence or coercion
• Sexually explicit synthetic or AI-generated content depicting a real, identifiable person without their consent
• Sexual content involving animals
• Any sexual content involving minors (see Child Safety)

Spam, Scams, and Deceptive Practices

Don't use SproutVideo to mislead or defraud viewers. Our Terms of Service already prohibit unsolicited email, SMS spam, and the use of malicious code; this section covers how video content itself is misused.

Scams and Fraud

• Phishing: videos, Video Websites, or calls to action that collect passwords, payment details, or personal information under false pretenses
• Fake giveaways, investment or crypto schemes, get-rich-quick offers, and pyramid schemes
• Content that sells counterfeit goods, fake documents, or stolen accounts

Impersonation

• Posing as another person, brand, or organization, including using their name, logo, or likeness to mislead viewers
• Synthetic or AI-altered video of a real person made to deceive, such as fake endorsements or fabricated statements

Misleading Content and Metadata

• Titles, descriptions, tags, or poster frames that misrepresent what a video contains
• Links that send viewers somewhere other than what is described, especially to harmful or deceptive sites

Context Exceptions

Some content that touches on violence, medicine, or other sensitive topics is allowed when it has a clear educational, documentary, scientific, journalistic, or artistic purpose. Examples include:

• Medical and surgical training videos for healthcare professionals
• News reporting or documentaries about war, crime, or human rights abuses
• Military, law enforcement, intelligence, and counterterrorism training or threat analysis, including original extremist media and attack footage studied for those purposes
• Evidence shared by law firms, courts, and other parties to legal proceedings, such as accident, surveillance, body camera, or deposition footage
• Safety training that shows the consequences of accidents
• Self-defense and firearms safety training
• Films, dramatizations, and other creative work with fictional violence
• Mental health and recovery resources that discuss self-harm or eating disorders

The purpose should be clear from the video itself or its title and description, and graphic material should be limited to what that purpose requires. For professional training and analysis, complete and unedited source material is allowed when access is limited to that professional audience. We recommend restricting access to the intended audience and adding a content warning where appropriate.

Reporting and Enforcement

Reporting a Violation

If you see content hosted on SproutVideo that you believe breaks these guidelines, email support@sproutvideo.com with:

• A link to the video, Video Website, or embed page
• Which guideline you believe it violates
• Any other details that help us review it

We review every report. If you believe a child is in immediate danger, contact local law enforcement first, then report the content to NCMEC's CyberTipline and to us. Copyright complaints are handled under the DMCA process outlined in our Terms of Service.

What We May Do

Depending on how serious the violation is and whether it has happened before, we may:

• Ask you to change the content or its metadata
• Restrict access to or remove the content
• Disable playback
• Suspend or terminate the account, as set out in our Terms of Service

Severe violations, including child sexual abuse material, non-consensual intimate content, and credible threats of violence, lead to immediate removal and account termination without warning. We will also report illegal content to law enforcement.

We may update these guidelines from time to time. Questions? Contact support@sproutvideo.com.